Huskies' Greene set for special road trip

News-Times, The (Danbury, CT), Rich Elliott Staff writer

Published 1:00 am, Saturday, December 27, 2008

STORRS -- The events that took place at Gampel Pavilion on the night of Dec. 17, 2007, don't come up much in conversation, if at all, when UConn senior Kalana Greene returns home to visit with her friends.

Instead, they spend time talking about such topics as school and boyfriends.

The events, though, are widely known around her hometown of St. Stephen, S.C., and in nearby Columbia, especially by Greene's longtime friend and South Carolina senior
Demetress Adams
. Adams was the player who fouled Greene from behind after Greene had planted on a drive to the basket with 2:44 left in the first half that night.

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Greene sustained tears to the anterior cruciate and the lateral collateral ligaments in her right knee on the play, tears that would require three separate operations. More than a year later, she is back in the starting lineup for the top-ranked Huskies.

And today her friends and family will have a chance to see just how far she has come since the injury when UConn meets South Carolina at the Colonial Life Arena (3 p.m., CPTV).

"There are a lot of best friends that play on the team, a lot of my friends and family are in the area -- North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia," Greene said. "My grandma is actually going to see me play. My grandparents are going to see me play. I don't think they've ever been to a game. So I'm going to get them to come out. It's going to be special. A lot of people are going to get to see me play in person.''

Greene grew up about an hour from Columbia. The only game she has previously played at the building formerly known as the

Colonial Center
was a 58-44 victory over Clover in the Class AAA state championship game during her senior season in 2005. It was the first state championship for Timberland High.

She said she is not putting any undue pressure on herself to play well today. She recently informed the media that she's treating it just like any other game on the schedule. On the road back to a full recovery, every game is one to savor for Greene at this stage in her career.

"I don't take any games for granted," she said. "I'm just happy to be out playing every game. This game is really no different."

Greene was averaging 8.3 points, 5.1 rebounds and 2.3 assists in 22.3 minutes in eight games last season before missing the final 30 games.

Through the first 10 games this season for the undefeated Huskies, she is averaging 7.8 points, 2.4 rebounds and 2.5 assists in 19.8 minutes and is shooting 68.6 percent from the field.

But as strong as she looked early on, there have been signs that Greene is still working her way back to full strength.

She reached double figures in scoring in three of the first four games (10.3 average), but she has failed to do so in the past six games (6.2 average).

This represents the longest such streak since a stretch that spanned the final 12 games of her freshman season in 2005-06.

The target for a full recovery has long been sometime after the New Year, so there is no cause for concern. The fact that Greene is able to produce at all after suffering such a serious injury is what matters most.

"I'm thrilled that she's back and is pretty close to where she was," UConn coach
Geno Auriemma
said.

"It would've been a real disappointing time for her if she wasn't ready yet and things hadn't worked out in her rehab and she was still struggling and here we are going down there and playing in front of a lot of family and friends. So it's worked out probably as best as we could've hoped."